Howard literally took over as the rest of our roster succumbed to age, the year after the loss to Pittsburgh in the 09 finals, he took over.

If he was the Jimmy he was 3 years later, we would've returned to the finals, but he was brought up too late because of the personnel we kept in net. He went from ~40+games in the ahl to a 60-70game starter in the nhl the very next year and looked amazing. Until he got to the playoffs and he was suddenly tired.

I think a rested Jimmy Howard, would've won us a cup in his first three years. I think they fucked up his development to a degree, because they saw what they had and decided to run with it and realized they overworked a goalie who hadn't had to endure an nhl season, or literally any professional season above 45/50games without having rest, and by the time they realized he wasn't in that type of shape or that he shouldn't play that many games, our window had passed.